The Four Styles of Shaoxing: From Dry to Sweet

Shaoxing wine is classified by sugar, just like Champagne or Riesling. China's national standard for huangjiu sorts it into four classes, and Shaoxing has a classic wine for each. The rice, the qu and the water of Jianhu Lake are the same. What changes is how each wine is brewed.

元红 Yuanhong: the dry base **Dry · up to 15 g of sugar per litre**

Yuanhong is the everyday dry wine of Shaoxing, and the base the other styles are built on. It is amber, dry and slightly bitter, with notes of nuts and toasted rice. Its name is often explained as "first red", and its jars were traditionally painted red on the outside.

Because it is fully fermented, Yuanhong is the most direct expression of the brew: clean, savoury and light on the palate.

**Drink it with:** light dishes, steamed fish, seafood. **Serve:** at room temperature, or gently warmed.

加饭 Jiafan: add more rice **Semi-dry · 15–40 g/L**

"Jiafan" means "add rice". More glutinous rice goes into the brew and less water, so the wine is rounder, fuller and slightly sweet. It is the most popular Shaoxing style and the one you are most likely to find abroad.

Aged for years in carved and painted jars, it becomes the famous Huadiao (花雕), "carved flowers". Nü'er Hong (女儿红), "daughter's red", is another famous name for aged wines in this family.

**Drink it with:** braised pork, roast duck, hairy crab, aged cheese. **Serve:** warmed, in small cups.

善酿 Shanniang: wine made with wine **Semi-sweet · 40–100 g/L**

Here the brewer replaces part of the water with aged Yuanhong. Wine goes into the making of wine. The fermentation stops earlier, leaving more sugar behind. The result is semi-sweet, silky and deep in colour, with a long, gentle finish.

**Drink it with:** rich, savoury dishes, sweet-and-sour dishes, roasted nuts. **Serve:** at room temperature or slightly cool.

香雪 Xiangxue: fragrant snow **Sweet · over 100 g/L**

Xiangxue is brewed with a rice spirit added to the ferment. The spirit stops the yeasts, so much of the sugar stays in the wine, and it is also the strongest of the four. It is pale, sweet and fragrant: the dessert wine of Shaoxing. Its name, "fragrant snow", refers to its pale colour.

**Drink it with:** desserts, dried fruit, mooncakes, blue cheese. **Serve:** chilled, or even over ice.

Old wine, new names

On labels you will often see an age (三年, five years, ten years) and a brand name rather than the style. Most aged wines sold as Huadiao or Nü'er Hong are semi-dry, in the Jiafan family. When in doubt, the back label usually states the sugar class.

Which one first?

Start with a semi-dry Jiafan or Huadiao: balanced, rich and the most versatile at the table. Then try the extremes: a dry Yuanhong with seafood, and a sweet Xiangxue with dessert.

Never boil it. Warm the jug in hot water until it feels warm to the touch.

**Once opened,** keep the bottle in the fridge and finish it within a few weeks.

In one sentence

Four styles, one scale: Yuanhong is dry, Jiafan semi-dry, Shanniang semi-sweet and Xiangxue sweet.